Graf von Loeben and the Legend of Lorelei: From "Modern Philology" vol. 13 (1915)Porterfield, Allen Wilson
General
Graf von Loeben and the Legend of Lorelei: From "Modern Philology" vol. 13 (1915)
Porterfield, Allen Wilson
Legends -- Germany; Loeben, Otto Heinrich, Graf von, 1786-1825
[76] In F. Gräter's _Idunna und Hermode, eine Alterthumszeitung_,
Breslau, 1812, pp. 191-92, Gräter gives under the heading, "Die
Bildergallerie des Rheins." thirty well-known German sagas. The
twenty-seventh is "Der Lureley: Ein Gegenstück zu der Fabel von
der Echo." It is the version of Vogt.
[77] Aside from the above, some of the less important authors of
lyrics, ballads, dramas, novels, etc., on the Lorelei-theme are:
J. Bartholdi, H. Bender, H. Berg, J. P. Berger, A. H. Bernard,
G. Conrad, C. Doll, L. Elchrodt, O. Fiebach, Fr. Förster,
W. Fournier, G. Freudenberg, W. Freudenberg, W. Genth, K. Geib,
H. Grieben, H. Grüneberg, G. Gurski, Henriette Heinze-Berg,
A. Henniger, H. Hersch, Mary Koch, Wilhelmine Lorenz, I. Mappes,
W. Molitor, Fr. Mücke, O. W. Notzsch, Luise Otto, E. Rüffer, Max
Schaffroth, Luise Frelin von Sell, E. A. W. Siboni, H. Steinheuer,
Adelheid von Stolterfoth, A. Storm, W. von Waldbrühl, L. Werft,
and others even more obscure than these.
[78] In Menco Stern's _Geschichten vom Rhein_, the story is told
so as to connect the legend of the Lorelei with the treasures of
the _Nibelungenlied_. In this way we have gold in the
mountain, wine around it, a beautiful woman on it--what more could
mortal wish? Sympathy! And this the Lorelei gives him in the
echo. In reply to an inquiry, Mr. Stern very kindly wrote as
follows: "The facts given in my _Geschichten vom Rhein_ are
all well known to German students; and especially those mentioned
in my chapter 'Lorelay' can bo verified in the book: _Der
Rhein_ von Philipp F. W. Oertel (W. O. v. Horn) who was, I
think, the greatest authority on the subject of the Rhine." Oertel
is not an authority. In Eduard-Prokosch's _German for
Beginners_, the version of Schreiber was used, as is evident
from the lines spoken by the Lorelei to her Father:
Vater, Vater, geschwind, geschwind.
Die weissen Rosse schick' deinem Kind,
Es will reiten auf Wogen und Wind.
These verses are worked into a large number of the ballads, and
since they are Schreiber's own material, his saga must have had
great general influence.
[79] There would be no point in listing all of the books on the
legends of the Rhine that treat the story of the Lorelei. Three,
however, are important, since it is interesting to see how their
compilers were not satisfied with one version of the story, but
included, as becomes evident on reading them, the versions of
Brentano, Schreiber, Loeben, and Heine: _Der Rhein: Geschichten
und Sagen_, by W. O. von Horn, Stuttgart, 1866, pp. 207-11;
_Legends of the Rhine_, by H. A. Guerber, New York, 1907, pp:
199-206; _Eine Sammlung von Rhein-Sagen_, by A. Hermann
Bernard, Wiesbaden, no year, pp. 225-37.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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